by Stella Rhys
Chapter Fifteen
It was my last day before leaving for St. Lucia, so I was happy to brave the freezing temperatures to stroll the holiday market at Columbus Circle. I’d be in eighty-degree sunshine tomorrow, so a bit of a chill didn’t bother me.
Wandering around the holiday markets, I entertained the thought of buying gifts despite the fact that I told Sofia I’d be swearing off Christmas, my birthday and New Years this season. After the breakup, I wanted no reminder that the days existed since I’d be spending them alone. So I warned Sofia not to buy me anything, as I wouldn’t be shopping for anyone myself. But tonight, I was more than happy to stroll the tents. I wore a placid smile as I wandered around alone, sampling apple cider and cooing over whittled tree ornaments, homemade peppermint bark and a million things I wouldn’t have cared about were it not for my mood. It continued on a high as I ditched the freezing outdoors for the heated luxury of the Shops at Columbus Circle.
But just as I pushed through the glass doors into the magnificent lobby, a call rang on my phone and I stopped in my tracks. Within the first few notes of the song, my heart was racing and I cursed the fact that I couldn’t even tell myself it might be Mason or Sofia.
Because I still had a special ring tone assigned to Aaron.
I hadn’t thought to change it since he never contacted me after leaving. But now as I stood in the middle of a holiday rush with hordes of locals and tourists streaming past me in both directions, my ex-fiancé was finally calling. And after the drama witnessed by dozens of his friends this past week at Noah’s apartment, I had a feeling I knew what might’ve prompted his first urge to call me since leaving. My hand shaking, I dragged my thumb across the screen, pressing the phone to my ear but saying nothing. I detected Aaron’s breathing on the other end before he even spoke a word.
“Taylor?”
I closed my eyes at the sound of his voice. My heart immediately raced and I gave no reaction to the person who bumped into me and shot a dirty look over his shoulder. On cloud nine before, I was on my own island of panic now as I mustered up the strength to speak.
“Aaron.”
But no sooner had I said his name did he hiss, “This better be a fucking joke, Taylor.” His fury woke me right up and suddenly, I was breathing hard through my nose, trying to narrow down the millions of questions and retorts I had for him as he railed against me on the other end of the line. “For Christ’s sake, please tell me you have an explanation for me!”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about how many fucking people have been calling me telling me they’ve been seeing you with Mason. I didn’t even listen to them at first because I swore you had to be smarter than that. I swore there was no way you could be that stupid, but now it’s getting to the point where I can’t keep telling myself they’re lying, so please – for Christ’s sake, please tell me this isn’t real. Please tell me you are fucking kidding me, Taylor.”
“You’re the one who’s gotta be kidding me, Aaron,” I seethed in sheer awe of his nerve. “Do you have memory loss or are we not going to acknowledge the fact that this is the first fucking time you’ve called me since you left me without warning – and in case you forget, you skipped out on not just our wedding but our bills that I had to pick up a second full-time job to cover. Considering the fact that your shotgun engagement to Eva Tully is the least of the problems you left me with, I’d say you’re the one who should be fucking explaining yourself.”
Frozen in the middle of the teeming lobby, my heart pounded out of my chest, my knuckles white as I gripped my phone tight in anticipation of Aaron’s reply.
“I was going to explain to you,” he finally muttered.
“Explain to me now.”
“I had a lot of pressure on me that you would never understand.”
“Well try your best to spell it out because I was with you for three years, Aaron so at the very least, I deserve even your most pathetic explanation as to why you packed your things and left me the way you – ”
“Christ, Taylor! I’m sorry! I couldn’t be who anyone wanted me to be, okay? I’m not Mason and for that, I’m sorry to my parents. I’m also not fucking husband material and for that, I’m sorry to you.”
“Oh, but you’re husband material when your bride is a swimsuit model with a billionaire father?”
“Yes,” Aaron growled, so unapologetic I nearly broke my phone. “I can start anew here. I have resources here that I don’t have at home.”
“You mean you have money and status that you don’t have to work for like your brother did,” I bit back, my eyes on fire and unblinking as I soaked in the silence of his shame. It was heavy and palpable and to my surprise, considering I once lived to ensure Aaron’s comfort, I enjoyed every twisted second of it.
“You’re with him for the money then,” he finally bit back.
“No but if I was, you’d be one to talk.”
“I don’t feel pressure with Eva the way I did with you.”
“That’s because you don’t fucking know her,” I hissed in disbelief. “You haven’t spent enough time with her to run into a single real challenge yet. You have no history with her and I hate to break it to you, but if you last even six months as a couple, Aaron, you’ll find one. There will be an obstacle, probably more than one and as her husband it will be your job to stay there even when it gets tough. You’ll have to be there for her and love her and support her like you didn’t with me.”
“How the fuck can you say that?” he returned instantly but in a soft voice. “How can you say I wasn’t there for you? You know I was. We couldn’t spend even a minute apart from each other after we lost the baby.” My throat closed. Without warning, I choked up, unable to say a word as Aaron went on in a small voice. “I know you remember. I took off from work to be with you. I had everyone telling me I better be taking good care of you, that I better give you your perfect fairytale ending after everything you went through, like I didn’t lose my baby too. Well I did, and I know that was the worst time of your life but you have to know it was mine too, and it was fucking hard for me too.”
I could feel my heart throwing itself against my ribs. My pulse chattered in my teeth as I stood there in the crowd, tears welling in my eyes as I stared out at nothing.
“I know it was. And you were there for me, Aaron,” I muttered. “But considering you proposed to me a year later, I expected you to be there forever instead of taking off one night without telling me.”
“I have my reasons, Taylor, but I’m sorry.”
“You’re not,” I murmured, calmly dabbing the corners of my eyes. “Or you’d tell me your reasons.”
“Why don’t you tell me yours first?” Aaron countered angrily. “What reason could you possibly have to get anywhere fucking near Mason?”
“He makes me happy,” I replied between my teeth.
“Bullshit. He makes you happy until he hurts you worse than you’ve ever hurt in your life.”
“Again, you’re one to talk.”
Aaron snarled in frustration. “I’m only warning you because I still love you, Taylor.” Off my bitter laugh, he insisted, “I do. It’s easy for a man to disappear overnight – it’s not as easy for three years of love to. You know that. So please listen to me when I say that you cannot trust Mason. He has lied to you already and he will continue to till the day he gets sick of you, which will happen the second you put out. Once he’s had his taste, he’ll be gone.”
“And what makes you think we haven’t already been intimate?”
Aaron laughed forcefully. “Because I know you, Taylor. I was with you for three years. I met you when you were twenty-two and had slept with only one other guy in your life. And considering you took more than a month to even sleep with me, I have a hard time believing you already spread your legs for the likes of my brother. You’re not brave enough and he’s got too many options. If you fucked already, he’d be bringing someone else to the wedding.”
“Fuck you,” I hissed.
“You’re upset because I’m right,” Aaron said harshly. “And because deep down, you know you’re making a mistake. Once upon a time, you hated Mason because he lied and womanized and treated women like toys – just like he’s doing to you right now. I swear he is, baby. Mark my words.”
My lip curled. “I’m not your baby.”
“True,” Aaron snorted. “You’re not anyone’s baby anymore.”
Livid, I hung right up. I would’ve thrown my phone against the wall if I knew Aaron could feel it. Fucking hell. Frozen in the midst of the teeming holiday crowd, I stood there, silently enraged. My hands shaking, I waited for the change of heart to set in – for me to decide that I couldn’t do this after all. I couldn’t go to Aaron’s wedding. I barely wanted my closure anymore because I honestly didn’t want to hear his pathetic, entitled reason for leaving me.
But to my surprise, I realized I still wanted to see him. Rather, I wanted him to see me with Mason. I couldn’t wait for him to. I couldn’t wait for him to see how I wanted to dress up for Mason, how I wanted to touch him in public – how I now had heat and the passion in my eyes that Aaron had never elicited from me before. I was dying to show him how different I was now that I felt like I was enjoying my life instead of just trying to prove to myself that I was. As furious and emotional as I was, I was also charged and so damned ready for tomorrow I could feel the anticipation rattling my bones. I’d already prepared to enjoy St. Lucia with Mason.
But now I was ready to have fun with our act in a way I hadn’t before.
Chapter Sixteen
God, I could get used to this. I let Mason pour me a second glass of Moët as I gazed out the window at the sheet of feathery clouds below us. The interior of the jet was sleeker than my own apartment with gleaming, wooden surfaces and champagne-colored everything.
“Are you guys already doing refills?” Sofia called from down the cabin, sitting next to Noah, her “plus one for shits and giggles.” With a row of leather recliners between our couch and hers, I couldn’t quite see them but I could definitely hear them.
“Yo, can we get some too?” Noah asked.
“You can if you get up and bring your butts over here,” I called back.
I could hear their bags of chips rustling as they both thought about it. “No, it’s too far,” Noah finally decided. I snorted at their remarkable laziness, but I was happy to maintain my alone time with Mason. Wrapped in the same blanket, we were snuggled up together on the couch in a way that made me feel undeniably like a real couple. Of course, I still refused to let myself strike up that classic “what are we doing” conversation because I didn’t want to ruin the moment. I’d never felt this good in my life and if the feeling was going to end right after we returned from St. Lucia, I didn’t want to know, especially since we hadn’t even gotten there yet.
“Birthday toast?” Mason suggested as we touched glasses.
I made a face of surprise. “Oh. Sure.”
He laughed in a way that made his blue eyes crinkle. “How do you forget your own birthday?”
“Well, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster lately,” I excused myself, though I knew the real reason. My birthday was the twenty-eighth. That was well after the wedding and thanks to the uncertainty in my unique circumstances with Mason, I had no interest in thinking about what life would be like after the wedding. Once upon a time, I lived to think about the future but with him, I wanted nothing but to live in the now. I wasn’t sure what that said about us as a couple or fake couple, but I didn’t care to find out.
“Well.” Reaching into his jacket, Mason pulled out a little box with a white bow on it. Nestled under his arm, I looked curiously up at him.
“What is that?”
“A birthday gift.”
“Why?”
“Because what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t buy you a birthday gift?” Mason smirked, handing it to me. “But before you open it, I want to hear what you want for your birthday. Just to see if I came anywhere close with what I bought you.”
Running my finger over the satin ribbon, I smiled. “I’m positive you didn’t get me what I wanted.”
Mason laughed. “Little fucking harsh, but what makes you say that?”
“Because I didn’t want anything. I genuinely hadn’t thought about it. But if I did, I’d want something that wouldn’t fit in this box,” I said.
“What’s that?”
I relaxed onto his chest. Answering “you” would be painfully cheesy, so I went with the next true answer I could think of. “Honestly, I’m not used to things being as eventful as they have lately, so I just want a second to myself,” I laughed. “I know I’m not working right now but it’s still been a bit dramatic for me to feel like I’m on vacation. There’s been Whitney and Aaron’s dickhead friends and then Aaron himself yesterday, so… definitely a lot going on. Definitely haven’t recognized my own head lately, so peace and quiet would be easily the best birthday gift.”
Mason nodded. “I see. That has to be the most depressing birthday wish I’ve heard in my life, but to each their own.”
“Shut up.” I gave his chest a tiny smack. “I mean, if I could really have anything, it would be my own island where it was just me for a day – me, a comfy couch and a giant palm tree over it. And a shelf of all the books I’ve started but haven’t had the time to finish. And a bottle of wine. With a pretty glass because cheap wine glasses are just so depressing to drink out of.”
“Now we’re talking. Bit of weird fucking island, but we’re getting somewhere.”
“And hydrangeas. Those are like, all our clients’ favorite flowers to use for events at Vandermark, and you’d think I’d be totally sick of them by now but I love them. They’re my favorite. So those would be on my island, too.”
“I don’t think all these things exist together in nature.”
“Well palm trees don’t grow chocolate but on my island, they do and it’s my imagination so stop being a buzzkill.”
“Shit, if you’re the one telling me to stop being a buzzkill I really need to re-evaluate my life.”
I smacked him again. “Can I open my gift now?”
“Go for it.”
Sitting up, I pinched the end of the soft ribbon and pulled till I could lift off the top of the pretty, blue box. My wary smile spread into a giant grin as I let my eyes settle on the gift that lay inside. “Mason, you’re an asshole – you know that, right?”
“I do but I don’t mind when you tell me. I’m for some reason into it.”
“Yeah, we’ve already established the weird fact that angry women turn you on.”
“I think you know that you turn me on regardless of what you do,” Mason said, forcing me to bite back my smile. He studied me with a grin of his own for a bit but then nodded down at my gift. “Want to try it on for me?”
I lifted the black panties with the word “Wednesday” written on them in sparkling rhinestones. “You know, for some reason, I don’t really feel inclined to do that.”
“I just wanted to complete your collection. From what I recall, you were missing your Wednesday panties.”
“Or are you once again buying me gifts to bribe me into having sex with you?” I teased. “I mean diamond necklace, rhinestone-studded panties… seems like some pretty overtly sexual hints.”
Mason laughed as he removed his arm from around my shoulder. “Fuck these ‘buying sex’ jokes, Taylor. I won’t even touch you for the duration of this trip. How’s that work for you?”
“It doesn’t work for either of us because it goes against the plan.”
“Fine. I’ll put my hands all over you in front of everyone, but once we’re in the privacy of our hotel room, you don’t get any of this.” He was being jokingly crass but the way he grabbed his junk still turned me on. I eyed him, resting one leg back onto his lap and taking his hand.
“Fine. And you don’t get any of this either,” I teased, d
rawing his palm over my breasts and then running it between my legs for half a second before he growled something lusty and climbed on top of me, giving me the full weight of his body that I so desperately craved. But as soon as my leg wrapped around him and he thrust against me, Sofia yelled at us.
“Stop! We can hear you!”
“And we’re not drunk enough for this shit because you wouldn’t refill our drinks,” Noah added.
Laughing as Mason groaned, I pushed him off of me. “We’re just… hugging aggressively,” I called back, my breaths short and heavy as Mason buried his face in my neck, cupping my hand over his hot erection.
“We don’t believe you and we require either more Moët or for you guys to fucking knock it off!”
“Fine!”
I wound up fulfilling both my best friend’s requests, going over to refill her champagne as Mason stayed on our couch to cool down. With Noah passed out next to Sofia, she clucked and shook her head at me. “You’re killing the man,” she whispered. “Mase might be the first person on Earth to die of blue balls.”
“Might I remind you that I’d probably have sex with him on this plane if it weren’t for you and Noah being here.”
“Oh, sorry, let me just jump out the window so you can finally get laid despite the fact that I told you to get it over with ages ago.”
“Smart ass,” I giggled as we toasted our glasses. Sipping my drink, I gazed out at the glittering ocean below us, letting out a long breath of awe. “God.”
“We’re almost there.”
“I know. Which means it’s really happening. I was engaged to Aaron two months ago and now we’re two hours from the destination where he’s going to marry another woman. Sofia, we’re going to Aaron’s wedding,” I whispered, finally processing that the day we’d planned for had finally come. I chewed on my nails. “It’s just so fucking weird.”
